Love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea. —Henry Fielding

10 April 2012

A Little David Mamet for a Tuesday

Anna. And now you return, with news. You return, not unlike Prometheus. Who brought fire to the gods.
Claire. The classical construction, of course, had him steal fire from the gods.
Anna. He stole fire from the gods?
Claire. Yes.
Anna. And this is generally known.
Claire. It is proverbial.
Anna. I speak under correction.

~

Anna. "That must be as it will be."
Claire. Do you not find such a disposition trivial?
Anna. It is, as I understand the term, Philosophy. (Pause) How can philosophy be trivial? When have you known me to be trivial?
Claire. You once referred to the Crimean War as "just one of those Things."
Anna. I did?
Claire. Yes.
Anna. When did I do that?
Claire. During a discussion of Geopolitics.
Anna. What is or are Geopolitics?
Claire. Oh, you remember...
Anna. I do not.
Claire. They are, as the term might suggest, the politics of the world.
Anna. And why were we discussing them?
Claire. To pass the time. To pass the time, you vacant cow. That is what people do.

~

I find this play delightfully funny. It's probably intended to be fairly misogynist, but it makes me laugh nonetheless.

1 comment:

  1. That last line made me laugh out loud.

    You obviously should share this with Jaime Davidson.

    ReplyDelete